Season of Changes
by Classicgurl123
Summary: Sequence following The Next Steps
1. Chapter 1

As Ben walks through the door at Carbo's house he toses his bag from work to the side as he hears Ruby and Carbo arguing in the living room, a few months before him and Emily had got married, which was no suprise to everyone else that saw it coming almost since they had met, Emily had moved in with Carbo and Retta and the girls, and after the wedding Ben had decided to move back in with them as well, while the house was a little cramped they were all happy with the living arangement. It wasn't too suprising that Ruby just popped up at what seemed to be random, with all the family living within running and biking distance away from his parent's house, she spent equally as much time at her siblings houses, which she swore was because she wanted to see them but they knew it was because she wanted to play with her nieces and nephews, as well as her cousin

"Come on Carbo" Ruby says as she stands up on the couch to be at head level with Carbo

"I said no" Carbo says looking back at her as Ben comes around the corner into the living room

"Just around the block" Ruby says as she tries a different approach to get Carbo to crack

"No way Rubs" Carbo says as still staring down the now 16 year old girl as she looks back with a pitiful face "Hey that look doesn't work on Sadie or Melissa and it's not going to work on you"

"Okay easy killer" Ben says as he walks up behind Ruby as he pulls her off the couch "What's going on?"

"Carbo won't let me drive the charger" Ruby says looking at Ben, as she had a new found intrest in classic cars over the past few months

"Seriously man, your a 43 year old argueing with a 16 year old" Ben says looking at Carbo before looking back at Ruby "So you wearing him down any" he says smiling at his sister, while she had got Rachel's temperment she had also got alot of Ben's personality, for one they both had the same sneaky grin

"Ruby, you just haven't had enough experience driving yet" Carbo says looking at Ruby again trying to defend his case

"Look Rub's if you give me time to go change out of my work clothes, you and I can go practice your driving in my car, and then come back and have some supper" Ben says trying to persuade Ruby to go with his plan

"No offense Benny, but your car's old" Ruby says giving Ben a look of sympathy "But okay we'll go with your plan" she says patting him on the shoulder

"Hey my car's no older then Carbo's charger is" Ben says trying not to be offened by his sisters statement

"Yea but Carbo's car is a classic and your's is just" Ruby says as she turns around to see Ben glaring at her "A very nice car for it's age" she says approaching with caution

"I'm going to go get changed, and then we can get going in my apperent dinosure of a car" Ben says before walking upstairs

"You wern't wrong though, his car is really old" Carbo says standing beside Ruby as she grins at him

"Don't encourage her" They hear Ben yell from upstairs as they continue to grin at each other

"So I take it by the presence of this that Retta had to work later" Ruby says as her and Ben walk into the backyard as Carbo is cooking sausages on the grill as Sadie stands next to him as Melissa sits at the table nearby

"Yes but she gets off soon, so you have to help me hide the evidence" Carbo says as he hands a couple sausages on loaf bread to Sadie as she walks over to Melissa

"Well you don't have to ask us twice" Ben says as he and Ruby start to grab the food as well

"So your coming with us tommorw night aren't you Ruby?" Sadie says as Ruby joins her and Melissa at the table

"What's tommorw night?" Ruby says looking confused at Sadie and then at Melissa who is looking at her as well

"Girl's night, going shopping and then spend the night at Sammy and Nathan's place" Now that the kids were older, the girls both young and old had started having a girls night one friday a month, while the boy's had a guys night

"Oh yea I completly forgot about that, I've so much school work latly, but yes I will be there" Ruby says as she smiles back at Sadie

"Hello" Julie says as she walks into Carbo's house the next evening along with Ruby "Anyone home"

"Coming" Emily says as she comes down the stairs


	2. Chapter 2

"So Maddison apperently like's this boy in her class" Sammy says as she takes a sip of wine sitting a table at the boat club surronded by Julie, Emma, Retta, Frankie and Emily

"Oh she's getting to that age where boy's are starting to look less gross" Julie says looking at her "And how is Nathan dealing with that"

"Believe me he got protective, even though it was just a crayon drawing that said on it that he liked her" Sammy says smiling at them

"Oh Sadie is starting to get out of the crayon drawing stage" Retta says looking at them as she walks back over to the table from the bar

"Way out" Emily says picking up a glass of water "And she has both Ben and Carbo to deal with, they basically chased the last boy out of the house"

"Pretty sure that she's never going to be able to date" Retta says looking at them "She gave them both the silent treatment for at three hours"

"Luckly Emma just has boys to deal with" Emily says looking at Emma, refering to her and Buzz having Jackson,  
and their now 11 year old son Oscar

"I don't know, boy's seem to be just as bad" Frankie says as she takes a sip of her drink "Noah is already trying to persue girls, at least we have a few years before we have to deal with Ava and boy's" She says refering to her and Coby's daughter who had been born two years earlier

"Oh no, you come back to me when you have a 13 year old harmone driven teenager" Sammy says looking at them "Now that's a true nightmare"

"Well at least you and Ben don't have to worry about all this kid's stuff yet" Emma says as she grins at Emily, as Emily takes another sip of water making a face

"Wait your not" Sammy says as she looks closer as Emily looks back at her "Really" she says grining

"Something is going on isn't it" Retta as she also looks at Emily as she starts to grin

"Okay yes I am" Emily says confirming what the two are thinking "I just took the pregnacy test the other day"

"So Ben knows then?" Julie says as she is also getting excited as she looks at Emily "he dosen't does he" she says meeting Emily's gaze

"I've just been trying to think of a way to bring it up" Emily says looking at all the women at the table that are now looking at her "Afraid of what memories it will bring up"

"About Mel" Julie says as Emily nods her head at her "and that they were trying to get pregnate when she was killed" she says as Emily continues to look at her "Darling he loves you now, and I know he'll be just as excited"

"Carbo and I didn't know till much later how he reacted when we got pregant the first time" Retta says as she looks at Emily "It bought up stuff about how easily we had got pregant when him and Mel had tried for months"

"Hey what's going on over here" Ruby says walking over as she has observed the conversation from where she has been playing with her younger niece's and the other girls

"Your going to be an aunt again" Emily says as she turns around to look at her

"I wonder what the boy's are getting up to tonight?" Sammy says as she looks at the other's around the table

"No don't go in there" Buzz says as him, Ben, Nathan, Carbo, Coby and Jake are sitting on the couch at Carbo's looking at the tv after putting the younger boys to bed upstairs as they all reach for another fist full of popcorn

"You know how many people would have been saved in these movies if they actually listened to that" Ben says looking at him as they continue to watch the movie

Something wanders up behind the couch as their all focusing in on the tv "Daddy" Noah says coming around the couch scaring the guys as the popcorn bowl goes flying

"Woah" Coby says as he holds his hand on his chest as the other guys are trying to recover from the scare as well "what's wrong buddy?" Coby says looking at Noah

"I had a bad dream" Noah says looking at him "What are you watching?" he says looking at the tv

"Um nothing" Carbo says as he pauses the movie as he frantiquly looks at Noah

"Let's get you back upstairs" Coby says as he gets off the couch taking his son into his arms as they head back upstairs


	3. Chapter 3

It had been a couple of weeks since Emily had told been about her being pregant and the much bigger suprise that they were expecting triplets, and after Ben came back to after passing out from the shock, he couldn't have been more excited

"So have you thought of any name's yet" Retta says as her and Emily come back up to the door of the house after going for a walk

"Well I was thinking if it's girls then incorporate Mel into their names somehow, keep her memory alive in that way" Emily says smiling at Retta

"Well as long as the first name isn't Melissa, that could get confusing quickly" Retta says as they get ready to enter the house

"No I was thinking along the lines of middle names" Emily says looking at her "And Bennon would work for a little boy or girl"

"Well what about for the third" Retta says as they walk into the living room "Melissa and Bennon are only two names"

"I had thought about Daisy since that was Mel's faviorte flower" Emily says as the walk into the kitchen each getting a glass of water "Well I saw Ben's car out front so I'm just going to" she says starting to inch toward the living room

"Go spend time with your husband" Retta says smiling at her "I need to go pick up the girl's anyway" she says looking at the kitchen clock

Emily meets Carbo as she is coming upstairs before hearing Ben talking in their room

"He's talking to Mel" Carbo says stoping Emily before she can go further, just like when Retta talking to her parents, Carbo had noticed when Ben got back from his and Nathan's roadtrip he had caught Ben laying on his bed talking to the air realizing later that he was talking to Mel

"Okay, I'll proceed with caution" Emily says as she continues to walk towards their room, she had always respected Ben's time when he talked to Mel, she had found herself a few times talking to her when Ben got to acting weird when they first started dating, and even now if Ben started acting strange

"Weird that I'm going to be a dad now to three kids" Ben says looking at the wall with his back turned towards the door "after we tried for months" he says continuing "You know I think you would have really liked Emily" he says as Emily climbs onto the bed beside him

"I think I would have liked her too" Emily says smiling as Ben flips over onto his back realizing Emily's there

"I didn't even hear you come in" Ben says as he looks at Emily as she lays down beside him as she moves in closer

"Was trying not to interupt" Emily says looking at him "And maybe I wanted to tell you and her a decision i've made on the middle names" she says continuing to look at him "I was thinking if their girls Melissa and Daisy for middle names, and for a boy or girl we could use Bennon for a middle name"

"I think those sound like great names" Ben says as he smiles at her "And I think Mel would have liked them too"

"So who exactly are these kid's" Ruby says looking at Bella as they walk across the school yard

"Their friend's of Lola's, she said their cool" Bella says as they continue to walk towards the student's parking lot

"I don't know I mean we barely know Lola" Ruby says looking at her "Maybe we should just wait on your mom to come get us"

"Ah just come on" Bella says as she continues to drag Ruby towards a car with a couple boys and Lola are waiting

"Hey guys check this out" The boy driving the car says a while later as he pulls out his cell phone as Ruby closely watchs him start to text as he continues to drive as she starts to feel uncomfortable with the situation, after already feeling uncomfortable as they had pulled out a blunt as Lola and the boys had been smoking on

Bella looks over noticing just how uncomfortable her best friend is getting "Um guys if y'all want to drop us off right up here, Ruby and I have some things to take care of" she says as Ruby turns to look at her

"Is everything okay?" Lola says looking over at them "I thought you guys were having fun" she says continuing to look at them

"Um we were" Bella says knowing that it's a lie "We just need to take care of this it's really important" she says as the car comes to a stop as they get out "We'll see you guys later"

"So what was all of that about?" Ruby says as they walk toward Sammy and Nathan's house since that's the closest from where they had been dropped out

"I think you know" Bella says as she smiles at Ruby "I've known you since we were five, I know the situation was making you uncomfortable for obvious reasons" she says as she continues "I mean Ben's still convinced that Mel was killed because she was distracted by his call, and they were texting and driving, and then they had the blunt and I know that your family's had run in's with drug use"

"You know me so well" Ruby says as she smiles at her "And hey you basically are part of our family, as much as you know about all of this"

"Hey I'm your best friend, it's my job" Bella says as Ruby puts her arm around her as they continue to walk towards Nathan and Sammy's house

"Dinner was great Sammy" Ruby says later as her and Bella are on the couch, since it was a friday night, Sammy had invited the girls for dinner since Nathan had to work later and they had decided to have a movie night followed by Ruby and Bella staying over

"Thanks for coming over" Sammy says as she walks in holding Madison as she sits down on the couch "Nice to have a girls night, with Edward staying with a friend tonight and then Nathan working late" she says noticing the clock "Which I figured he would have been home a while ago, starting to get worried" she says looking at the girls

"I'm sure everything's fine" Bella says looking at her "If he doesn't show up in a little while we'll just try to call him again,  
maybe he just stopped off for a knock off drink or something" Bella finishs saying as the phone starts to ring

"I got it, you just relax" Ruby says getting off the couch seeing Sammy starting to get up as she walks into the kitchen to answer the phone, a few minutes later she comes back out of the kitchen still holding the phone with a worried look trying to find her words

"What's wrong?" Sammy says as she see's Ruby's face putting Maddison off of her lap, as Bella turns around in Ruby's direction

"Um we need to go to the hospital" Ruby says as she looks at them "Nathan's been in an accident"

"Let's color this one now Bella" Maddison says looking up where she is sitting on Bella's lap at the hospital a while later as they sit in a lobby area

"Hey Bella where is everyone?" Coby and Frankie say as they come running into the lobby with Ava and Noah in tow

"Their all in the room now, he's going to be okay" Bella says reassuring Coby and Frankie as they both have a worried look on their face

As Frankie and Coby sit down in the waiting room with her Lola steps into the doorway "Bella" she says as Bella looks up

"Um can y'all watch Maddison for a minute" she says as Frankie takes Maddison from her as Bella gets up walking out into the hallway

"Rafter" Lola says as her and Bella start to walk around the halls "One of Ruby's family members?"

"Her brother" Bella says as she looks at her "But how did you know" she starts as her and Lola come to a stop in the hallway

"I saw it on the police report" Lola says starting but then pauses to see what Bella's reaction is

"What happened Lola?" Bella says taking a long sigh "Where you still with those boy's?" she says as they walk into a side waiting room sitting down in a couple chairs

"Yea we were just goofing around, we never meant for anything to happen" Lola says looking guilty as she looks at Bella

"Do you want to know why we got out of the car today?" Bella says as Lola leans in to listen "Ruby's brother Ben, he lost his first wife in a car accident, and he thinks that it was because she was messing with her phone after he had called her" Bella says continuing "And her family has had their run arounds with drug use, it's been year's ago, even before Ruby was born but still"

"Oh I'm such an idiot" Lola says as she looks at Bella "I should have seen that Ruby was uncomfortable with what was going on, but you have to understand the family that I grew up in, that was the norm for me"

"Well it's okay you didn't know" Bella says looking at Lola "And you have Ruby and I now and we'll help you if you'll let us, but those boys, their not a good influence"

"But I have you and Ruby now to be a good influence" Lola says letting out a small smile "How is Nathan?"

"He'll be fine, a fractured foot, a few cracked ribs, he had to get some stitches put in his head, and has some bumps and brusis" Bella says looking at her "but it could have been alot worse then that" she says studying Lola's face as it turns to worry "But maybe you should let me tell Ruby about this conversation"

"Is it okay if I wait with y'all" Lola says as she looks back up at Bella "I want to be here for y'all"

"Yea of course it is" Bella says smiling at her as they get up to walk back to the lobby were the other's are at


	4. Chapter 4

"She's driving me crazy" Nathan says as Sammy walks back into the living room where he's laying on the couch, the day after he had came home from the hospital Trish had shown up for an unexpected visit, and after hearing about the accident, she had offered to help watch the kid's and Nathan while Sammy worked

"It's only for a few more day's" Sammy as she sits down on the couch "At least she's better then she used to be"

"And this whole room needs to be cleansed" Trish says coming back down the hallway "Oh hello dear I didn't hear you come in" she says seeing Sammy on the couch as she continues walking through the living room into the kitchen

"How much more could she possibly need to cleanse" Nathan says giving Sammy an annoyed look as she gives him an ammused face

"Thanks again" Ruby says as her and Lola walk out of the office's at Sydney Refugee, while the family had not started off with meeting Lola on the best terms, they had quickly accepted her, and her friendship had grown with Ruby and Bella

"See I understand you feel guilty about the accident, but why did you have to drag me into this" Ruby says as her and Lola are carrying stacks of papers to give Nathan

"Ah come on you should do it because you love your brother" Lola says as she looks at Ruby with a grin

"Yea and that's worth sitting through the 30 minute meeting and taking notes for Nathan" Ruby says looking at Lola "Not sure if any of my siblings are worth that"

As Lola gets ready to respond she nearly trips over a bump in the sidewalk as the papers go flying that she's holding as Lola starts to bend over to pick them up as Ruby bends down to help her

"See this is why I'm excited that in a couple weeks i'll have my license and a car, even though it is mom's old car, won't have to walk everywhere doing stuff like this" Ruby says continuing to help her pick up the paper's up as she notices a bruise on Lola's arm "Hey are you okay, that looks pretty bad"

As Lola notices that Ruby see's the bruise on her arm she tenses up some "Yea it's just from the accident, I hit my arm pretty good" she says trying to brush off the topic "Let's just get these thing's to Nathan"

"Okay well just take care of yourself" Ruby says as they continue walking as she still gives Lola a suspicous look

"I don't know it just seemed weird, she seemed to be acting strange when I even bought the conversation up" Ruby says a few day's later as she clean's off a table where Bella is sitting at the boat club a few day's later

"Well I mean clearly she didn't want to talk about it" Bella says looking up at Ruby "maybe you should just drop it"

"Yea I guess so, though I still can't help but feel like something is going on" Ruby says as she starts to walk to another table

"Besides you have other things to worry about, like being an aunt again" Bella says as she walks with Ruby as she clears another table

"Yea, Ben and Emily have another ultra sound tommorw and the I'll know if i'm going to have nieces or nephews" Ruby says smiling at Bella

That night Emily wakes up to see Ben tossing and turning in his sleep "Ben" she says as she shakes his shoulder "Ben"  
she says shaking his shoulder harder as he starts to slowly wake up "Are you okay honey?"

"Yea I'm fine, I was just having a dream" Ben says as he rolls over onto his back looking at Emily

"The way you were flailing around it seemed more like a nightmare" Emily says as she gives him a concerned look

"Seriously i'm fine" Ben says looking up at her trying to reassure her

"Well okay if your sure" Emily says as she continues to look at him

"What" Ben says noticing that Emily is continuing to give him a look

"Well since your awake now, I was wondering if" Emily starts to say as she gives a small grin

"Another craving" Ben says as he looks back at Emily who shakes her head yes "And i'll get some tea too" he says as he gets out of bed

"Thought I heard someone down here" Carbo says a while later as he walks into the kitchen a while later where Ben is standing in his boxer shorts "Another craving huh" he says walking over to the oven seeing Ben stiring some eggs in a frying pan

"Yea these kid's must really love breakfast food" Ben says as he continues to stir the eggs "there's some water boiled if you want cuppa"

"I'll take you up on that offer" Carbo says as he grabs a mug out of the cabinate as he grabs a tea bag pouring some water into it

"And I didn't mind getting up for a while" Ben says as he takes out the eggs, adding some bacon onto the plate as he walks back over to where Carbo is sitting "I had the dream again"

"The one where there's like 50 kids running rampid" Carbo says looking up at Ben "Your going to be a great dad, just need to stop worrying about it"

"I can't help it, and don't get me wrong i'm excited" Ben says looking at Carbo "It just seems so much more real espically with finding out the gender's tommorw"

"And killing ourselves working on the nursery hasn't felt real enough" Carbo says giving Ben a look "And you have plenty of back up to help"

"Yea your right, so when they start crying in the middle of the night, you and Retta can help us out" Ben says smiling at him "I better get this back up to Emily though" he says grabbing the plate as he heads back upstairs

"So that's it then" Emily says grining ear to ear as her and Ben come walking down the hallway at the hospital "two girls and one boy"

"Yea Charlotte Melissa, Savannah Daisy and Zachary Bennon" Ben says as they continue to walk up the hallway as he looks at the ultra sound picture as they walk by where a couple police officers are standing in a side room with a girl sitting on an examining table

"Wait wasn't that Lola" Emily says stopping Ben as they walk past the room

"Okay well I'm done with all of the table's" Ruby says as she walks back over behind the bar at the boat club where Donna is standing

"Perfect" Donna says smiling at Ruby "Well that should do it if you want to go ahead and get ready to go"

"Thanks, I'll see you tommorw" Ruby says as she gets ready to leave as her cell phone starts going off as she waves by to Donna as she picks up the phone "Hello, woah Ben slow down, what's going on" she says as she walks out the door

"I got here as quickly as I could" She says running into her house where her parents are with Emily and Ben as Lola turns around to look at her from the couch with a bloody eye and other cuts all over her face "What's happened" she says as she continues to look at Lola

"How long has this been going on?" Ruby says later as she sits on the couch with Lola, Dave and Julie have gone to sleep, and Emily and Ben had left an hour earlier

"Well normally I could handle myself, but when my dad gets aggressive like he did tonight, I just get in the way" Lola says looking at Ruby

"The bruise on your arm" Ruby says looking at her "It wasn't from the wreck was it, he did that to you" she says as Lola shakes her head yes "I had a feeling something like that was going on, but your safe now" she says as Lola gives her a small smile

The next morning Ruby walks out into the living room looking at Lola still asleep on their sofa as she walks into the kitchen where Julie is fixing breakfast

"So I had alot of time to think last night" Ruby starts to say as Julie walks over to her with a cup of tea

"I think we should let Lola stay here too" Julie says knowing what her daughter is getting ready to say

"How did you know that was what I was fixing to say" Ruby says curiously looking at her mum

"I'm your mother, it's my job to know what y'all are thinking about" Julie says smiling at Ruby "your dad and I had time to talk last night too, and we feel like it's the right thing for right now, and with the spare bedroom it's not like we don't have the space" she says as she continues to smile at Ruby "that girl is lucky to have a friend like you" she says kissing Ruby on the head


	5. Chapter 5

"How did it go?" Julie says walking out of the house followed by Lola as Ruby and Dave pull into the driveway

"I'll let her tell you" Dave says as Ruby gets out of the drivers side of the car proudly holding up a piece of paper

"I am offically a licensed driver" Ruby says squealing as Lola runs over to give her a hug followed by Julie

"Congradulations Darling" Julie says as she gives Ruby a hug who is still jumping up and down in excitment as she pulls back she wipes a tear away

"What's wrong mum?" Ruby says noticeing Julie getting emotional as Lola and Dave look at her as well

"It's just your growing up so fast" Julie says whipping another tear from her eye as she continues to look at Ruby

"Ah mum, don't worry i'll always be your little girl" Ruby says as she pulls her mum into a hug again "I got to go show the rest this though" she says as she pulls out of the hug

"Hey hold on, I'll come with you" Lola says as she runs after Ruby who is getting into the car

"Okay well just be careful" Julie says as the two girls start the car as they back out of the driveway

"Well that's four kid's that we've taught how to drive" Dave says as he puts his arm around Julie's shoulder "think that makes us experts" he says as he smiles at her

Meanwhile Sammy is getting the mail at their house as Nathan runs up as he leans over the mail box as Sammy smiles at him "How was the run?"

"Good" Nathan says as he is trying to catch his breath "My foot still hurt's some, but the doctor cleared me to workout, besides no pain no gain" he says smiling at her "And it's no where near as painful as putting up with your mum these last couple weeks"

"Hey, she has her own house now" Sammy says smiling at him "I just feel sorry for her new neighbor's" she says referring to Trish moving in across the street from Carbo's house

"Look what I got" Ruby says walking across the lawn followed by Lola as Sammy and Nathan look up not realizing the Ruby had pulled into their driveway

"Let me see that" Nathan says as he takes the paper from her "She's street legal now" he says as he hands off the paper to Sammy

"That's great Ruby" Sammy says smiling at Ruby "I remember how excited I was when I first got my license"

"Oh believe me she's excited" Lola says as she lets out a breath before looking back at Ruby

"Well we're making rounds" Ruby says as she continues to smile "But y'all are coming to the party tommorw right"

"Yep we'll be there" Nathan says shouting at Ruby as her and Lola run back towards the car "So are the kids here"

"Edward's with a friend, and mum has Maddison with her" Sammy says with a grin at Nathan

"Want to take advantage of the opportunity of being on our own" Nathan says giving Sammy a suspicous look "I just need to shower first"

"I'll scrub your back" Sammy says with a smile as she starts to pull Nathan toward their house

Over at Carbo's house Emily is sitting on the couch as Ben hovers over her wearing his clothes for the boat club "Ben i'm fine" Emily says giving him an annoyed look

"Your sure cause I can call in tonight" Ben says continueing to look at her, the further Emily progressed in her pregancie the more paranoid he was getting

"Go to work, I was feeling a bit dizzy but I'm fine now and Retta and Carbo will be here with me" Emily says looking at him "You have the big function tonight, and don't forget to drop off the paperwork for the house" After much consideration over the last couple weeks, Emily and Ben had decided with the babies coming, to move back into the house next door, that had been empty since Chel had passed away a few months earlier

"Well Ruby said she was going to pick me up, so I know what she got today" Ben says looking at her before walking into the kitchen

"Hey getting your license is a big deal" Emily says yelling back into the kitchen where Ben is washing out some mugs

"Did you guys see a taxi pull up?" Retta says as she comes down the stairs as Melissa follows behind her

"No" Emily says curiously as she gets up off the couch as she starts to head toward the door followed by Retta

"Hello everyone" Rita says as she busts through the door before the two can say anything else as the girls stand their looking at her

"Nana!" Melissa says running past Emily and Retta as Ben comes up beside them with a shocked look on his face

"Hello Sweethart" She says hugging Melissa as Sadie comes downstairs hearing the commution as she embraces Rita in a hug as well

"Hey Ben you ready for work" Ruby says walking through the open door "Rita?" she says as she moves over standing beside Ben

Later that night at the boat club Ben is looking at Ruby from behind the bar talking to a guy at a table

"See I just think they would make a good couple" Lola say's as her and Bella walk over toward the bar

"Right, I think they would be really good together" Bella says as they walk up to where Ben is "Hey Ben can we get a couple more waters"

"What do y'all know about that guy?" Ben says looking at Bella and Lola as he hands them their waters

"Well he's new at our school and his names Ethan" Bella says as she turns back towards Ben seeing his face "Oh I know that face, that's protective brother face"

"He's a good guy Ben" Lola says turning around to join Bella and Ben as they continue to look at Ruby and Ethan

"Yea we'll see about that" Ben says as he turns back around to fill more drinks as customers come up to the counter 


	6. Chapter 6

"Okay so this is what were going to do, just break up the middle" Ruby says as her and Bella are huddled together at her birthday cookout the next day in the middle of a footie game "Okay break" she says as her and Bella busting through Ben and Nathan who are trying to block them

"Ha we win" Ruby says her and Bella smile back at Nathan and Ben who look dumb founded

"Hey that wasn't fair" Ben says as he and Nathan continue to look at the girls

"Oh it so was" Ruby says looking at him "y'all are just sore lossers" she yells back at her brothers

"I want a rematch" Nathan says as him and Ben start to run down to the other end of the yard

"Oh bring it on" Ruby says as her and Bella get prepared to start up another game

"So how are you settleing in?" Rachel says grining as she walks over to where Lola is sitting at the backyard table as she puts a wiggly Mia down to run off as she sits down

"It's all going good, figured you would be playing footie with them" Lola says as she smiles at Rachel

"Footie isn't really my thing" Rachel says looking at Lola "And besides Ruby and Bella don't need my help to beat those two" she says smiling at her "I heard about what happened, and why your here"

"Yea that whole situation just sucked" Lola says as she takes a sip of her drink "Just thought I could handle it"

"I did too" Rachel says looking at Lola as she gives her a confused look back "I had an ex-boyfriend that beat on me"

"How did you handle it?" Lola says as her confusion now turns to curiosity "I mean how did you get through it"

"I thought I could just ignore the situation and that it would go away" Rachel says continuing to look at Lola "But it didn't and it just got worse till I just couldn't take it anymore, mine was crystal meth"

"Mine was alcohol" Lola says as she looks at Rachel "He just got drunk all the time, and when he got drunk he just completly lost it"

"One thing I did learn from all of it is that family is the most important thing" Rachel says smiling at her "As crazy and disfunctional as we might be" She says laughing watching Nathan and Ben trying to tackle Ruby, and as the rest of the family stands near the grill talking

"Yea I never had that, my mom left us when I was 7, and after she left my dad completely lost it, and well we know how that ended up" Lola says looking at her

"Any siblings?" Rachel says as she takes a sip of her wine while trying to pay attention to what Marcus and Mia are getting up to who are playing with Edward and Maddison before turning back to the conversation

"Just a brother, Connor, but he's five years older then I am, and once he hit 18 he just took off and never looked back" Lola says as she waits for Rachel's response"

"Well I hope you don't come to regret it, but your stuck with us now" Rachel says smiling at her jokingly "And we're going to do our best to make sure you never have to go through anything like that again, and if you ever need to talk, you never have to be afraid to come to us with anything"

Later that night after the day's events and most everyone has cleared out, Lola is sitting in Ruby's room looking through a shoe box as Ruby come's to the door "See you found my memory box" she says as Lola looks up

"I'm sorry it was just sitting here open, and I saw this doll in it, she's beautiful" She says holding up the doll Mel had given Ruby that Sammy being on a sewing kick lately, had restored giving it to Ruby as a birthday present earlier that day

"Yea Ben's first wife Mel gave me that when I turned one" Ruby says as she closes the door since her mum and Bella who was also spending the night with them were still in the kitchen as she heard them laughing about something down the hall "Well she had ordered it anyway"

"She's the one that was killed in the car accident" Lola says looking up "Bella told me about it"

"Yea she was I have pictures in here somewhere" Ruby says rumaging through the box "here they are" she says pulling out a pocket size photo from Ben and Mel's wedding and a picture of Mel holding her at the hospital after she was born

"These are great" Lola says taking the pictures from her to take a closer look at them

"And that's just the tip of the ice berg for pictures" Ruby says smiling at her

"So explain this one" Bella says later holding up a picture as she has now joined Lola and Ruby looking through pictures that are now scattered all over the bed

Ruby grins as she takes the picture from Bella as she see's a photo of her in a princess costume with Nathan and Ben on either side of her with disgruntle faces dressed up in prince costumes "According to mum when I was four, we were going to a fancy dress party and I insisted on Ben and Nathan being my handsom princes and I was the beautiful princess, and after I asked enough, they finally gave in just to shut me up"

"Y'all have all these great memories" Lola says still looking at the scattered pictures before looking at Bella and Ruby

"And your part of them now" Ruby says as she smiles at Lola


	7. Chapter 7

A few months later is Ruby is setting pictures up at what was once Mrs. Luscombe's house that her, Lola and Bella had moved into only a couple days before, it had been a few crazy months, she pulls out a picture of Lola surrounded by her family on the day that they offically adopted her into the family

"This is going to be great, finally going to be more girls then boy's" Ruby says standing in the kitchen a few months before as she is helping Rachel and Sammy to decorate a cake

"Oh yay" Ben says sarcastically sitting at the kitchen table with Emily, Jake, and Nathan, as Mia, Marcus, Edward and Maddison are running around in the backyard

"Well would you just keep your voice down" Rachel says looking at Ben and then at Ruby "mum and dad aren't even back with the paper work yet"

"Okay we're here and we have the rest of the supplies" Coby says as he enters the kitchen with a grocery bag as Frankie comes in behind him with Ava and Noah

"So are Julie and Dave back yet" Frankie says as she readjust Ava who she is holding as she releases Noah into the backyard to play with his cousins

"Not yet" Rachel says looking at Frankie as Sammy swats Nathan away from the cake behind her who is trying to get some of the icing off "But would you keep it down Lola is in her room"

"What's all of this" Lola says a while later as she walks into the backyard followed by Ruby where the rest of the family is sitting at the table as Dave and Julie are standing up

"Come over and sit down we have something to ask you" Julie says as Ruby sits down at the table along with Lola

"Well that sounds ominous" Lola says looking at Dave and Julie and then at everyone else sitting around the table

"It's really not" Dave says seeing Lola's face "You've been with us for a couple months now, and in that time you've become a big part of our family"

"And now that you know what your getting yourself into" Julie says picking up from where Dave left off "We were wondering if you'd like to make offical" she says sliding adoption papers across the table to Lola

"Are you serious?" Lola says picking up the papers flipping through them "Of course, I would love that" she says getting up to hug Dave and Julie

"Well now that we've settled that, let's celebrate" Jake says getting up from the table as the rest join him giving Lola a group hug

"Your stuck with us now kid" Coby says as they are all in the group hug

As Ruby puts that picture up on the fridge Lola walks into the kitchen carrying some more photos "We should put this one on there too" she says holding up a picture of her, Ruby and Bella after their graduation

"Mum please stop crying" Ruby says standing out in front of their high school after the ceremony surrunded by the family as she get's ready to take a picture with Dave and Julie

"I can't help it, all of my babies are all grown up" She says pulling Nathan, Ben and Rachel in as well

"Okay mum, let's get the picture now" Rachel says smiling as they all crowd around Ruby as they get ready to snap the photo

"Hey you get in here too" Ben says yelling at Lola who is standing off to the side with Bella and Ethan who Ruby had started dating a month prior

And then came the bigger news a few days later

"Your moving out" Julie says as she looks at Ruby a couple of days after graduation as Dave is behind her trying not to act too excited

"Just a couple road's over, I'll still see you all the time, we're just moving into the house next to Emily and Ben" Ruby says trying to talk up her case to her mum"

"In Mrs. Luscombe's old house" Julie says looking at her "Are you sure darling"

"Mum we're going to be at the community college in the fall and it just feels like the right time to strike out on our own"

"Well when are you moving?" Dave says curiously as he walks up beside Julie

"In a couple of weeks" Ruby says looking at them "We sign the rent papers this afternoon"

And while all those events had been going over the last few weeks, the newest additions had arrived to the family only a few day's earlier Ruby thinks to herself as she put's a picture of her with her newest nieces and nephew, with the day of their birth being an adventure in itself

"We need some help" Sammy says as her and Rachel run into the hospital a few days earlier, she had been helping Emily with things in the nursery during their lunch break when Emily had gone into labor

"Where is Ben at ?" Emily screams during a contraction as Sammy takes a clipboard from the nurse as Rachel is trying to keep Emily calm

"I've been trying to call him, but i'll try again in a few minutes if he doesn't call me" Rachel says trying to help Emily breath

Meanwhile at the boat club Ruby and Lola are standing by the staff bathroom "Ben are you okay?" Ruby says leaning against the bathroom door "I told you that meat didn't taste right" she says looking at Lola

"No I'm not" Ben says from inside the bathroom as he starts to get sick again

"This is all your fault" Ruby says looking at Lola "I'll go get a bucket, and try to find something to help settle his stomach"

"Well what do you want me to do" Lola says looking at Ruby as she walks down the hallway

"Just stay there with Ben if he needs anything before I come back" Ruby says as she walks into the main room of the boat club

"Ruby" Nathan says as he burst into the boat club seeing Ruby behind the bar "Where is Ben at?"

"Why what's going on?" Ruby says looking at her brother as Carbo runs in behind him "shouldn't y'all be at work"

"We have to get Ben to the hospital" Ruby says as she runs back down the hall towards Lola followed by Nathan and Carbo

"Ah come on, I mean he's sick but we're giving him plenty of water, isn't the hospital a bit of a stretch" Lola says giving them a look

"No, not because Ben's sick, Emily's having the babies" Ruby says giving her a paniced look

"She's what" Ben says as he opens the door looking terrible, before getting sick again as he slams the door close

Ruby laughs to herself as she reminises on the events of the day, and how they eventually got Ben to the hospital with Emily, after pulling over to the side of the road multiple times on their way

"And that's everything" Dave says as he drops the rest of the things in the front hall as Ruby walks back out of the kitchen

"You take care of yourself" Julie says as she starts to tear up wrapping Ruby in a hug, with the same reaction she had with the rest of her children moving out

"I will mum" Ruby says as she hugs her back "I'm only ten minutes away, your on my running route"

"Okay come on Julie" Dave says trying to peel Julie off of Ruby "Call us if you need anything sweethart" he says giving Ruby a hug before they leave

Later that night Julie is sitting on the couch at her and Dave's house as Dave comes up sitting down to join her "It took us a few more years then we thought"

"What?" Julie says giving him a confussed look

"To get all the kids out of the house" Dave says smiling at her "But we finally have the place to ourselves" he says as he moves closer to Julie

"What are you doing?" Julie says laughing as Dave keeps moving closer and closer to her "we better not end up at the hospital again"

"Age is just a number" Dave says as him and Julie start to kiss before getting up to head for their bedroom

Meanwhile over at Ben and Emily's, Ben comes walking into the room as Emily is sitting on the bed waiting on him "I finally got them to sleep for maybe 30 minutes" Ben says as he falls into the bed "while their down though" he says moving closer into Emily "we need sleep"

"Yea I guess your right there's no telling how much actual sleep we'll get tonight" Emily says as she reaches up to cut off the lights

As Ben and Emily's bedroom light goes off at their house next door there are cars out on the street as well as pulled into the driveway

"Oh this party is going to be epic" Lola says as she brings food out of the kitchen as more guest start to arrive

"And how many people did you say are coming again?" Ruby says as her and Bella come down from upstairs

"Just a few people" Lola says turning back to them as she enters the living room as Bella and Ruby look at each other and then back at her

"Yea come on let's party" Bella says as she pulls Ruby towards the living room

Later that night while the party is going full blast, next door Ben and Emily are curled up in bed as they hear the noise from next door

"What is that?" Emily says as her and Ben start to wake up shifting from the position that they've been in

"Revenge" Ben says as he looks over at Emily "I'll bet mum gave her the music and everything to get me back" he says looking at a confused Emily as he gets out of bed

As Ben walks into the girl's house next door he heads straight for the stereo in the teenager filled living room as he turns it off "okay party's over"

"What's going on?" Lola says as she makes her way through the crowd "Ben" she says seeing him standing near the stereo as Bella and Ruby come up behind her

"Ben" Ruby says annoyed looking as she walks over beside her brother "we were just having a little party"

"A little party, we could hear it full blast over at our house, and Carbo and Retta could probably hear it" Ben says looking at her "And also keep in mind that you have two newborn nieces and a nephew next door that I would really like to stay asleep for a little while so I can sleep" he says as he pulls Ruby in closer as he can tell she's still aggrivated at him "Besides sis, I'll tell you the same thing mum told me when I moved in with Carbo and threw a wild party, there's going to be grumpy old neighbors wherever you go, it just happens to be your brother in this case" he says smiling at her

"Okay we get it we'll wrap it up" Bella says as Ben smiles at the three of them before leaving

"How did it go?" Emily says next door as she walks around with Savannah in her arms when Ben comes back in the door with a worried look on his face as he walks into their room "Hey don't worry they didn't wake them up, it was time to feed them" she says noticing Ben still isn't saying anything

"Hey what's going on?" Emily says as she walks into their room sitting down on the bed beside Ben

"I just realized something" he says looking at Emily was a scared look on his face "I'm turning into my parents" he says laying back onto the bed as Emily looks at him as she starts laughing


	8. Chapter 8

"Here come's Aunt Ruby" Ruby says the next morning as she pops up in front of the triplets bassintes in the living room causing all three of the babies to smile, right after though Charlotte starts to give a cranky face "Oh come here" she says as she picks her niece up out of the bassinate as she starts to get fussy

"Hey is the bottle ready yet" She says where Ethan is standing over by the oven, as Lola and Bella are also in the kitchen

"Um I think it is, I can feed her" He says reaching out to get Charlotte as Lola puts another bottle into the boiling water

"Woah no, you have to test that first" Ruby says grabing the bottle that Ethan is about to put into Charollete's mouth as she squirts some milk out on her wrist before handing it back to him

"How do you know so much about babies" Lola says where she is stirring some eggs in a frying pan

"Well I have three nephews and four nieces, at some point you learn some things" Ruby says looking at her "now Bella get Zachary and you can feed him when the bottle gets ready and then I'll get Savannah"

"How much did you actually help with Edward, your only three years apart in age" Bella says as she grabs Zachary carrying him back into the kitchen

"I helped" Ruby says as she sits down at the kitchen table continuing to feed Savannah as the three look at her "Nathan held him, and I put the bottle in his mouth"

Meanwhile, Emily wakes up looking around not hearing the babies in a while, assuming Ben is up with them she looks over to where Ben is still face down in his pillow "Ben" she says hitting him on the back "Honey"

"Huh what" Ben says rolling over looking at her "what is it?" he says as he continues to wake up

"It's been really quite for a while, maybe we should go check on the babies" Emily says looking at him

"Or they could just be sleeping" Ben says looking at her as he starts to smell the air "You smell that"

Emily smells the air along with him "Smell's like breakfast food" she says as they both give a confused look as they get out of bed

"Uh oh" Ruby says meanwhile in the kitchen as she sitting on the couch with Ethan beside her as they hold Savannah and Zachary as Lola has her eyes covered in front of them as she jumps at their faces as the babies let out a squeal "there she is" Ruby says looking at Lola before looking back down at the babies as Bella laughs as she sits in a nearby chair holding Charlotte who has fallen back asleep

"What's going on in here?" Ben says poking his head into the kitchen as Emily closely follows behind him

"Nothing much, just thought we would come over, make breakfast, watch the kids for a while" Lola starts to say

"We felt bad about last night, is what she meant to stay" Ruby says looking at Lola then back at Emily and Ben "leftovers are in the oven"

"Well if we get this treatment, maybe I should come fuss at y'all more often" Ben says as he gets the things out of the oven as Emily gets some plates out "free babysitting and breakfast"

"I personally don't need to be fussed at to see these three" Ruby says smiling down at Savannah "And besides I would call it fussing, it was more of an authoritative tone"

"Well if you don't mind watching them for a while longer" Emily says looking at them "I might go for a run"

"And while your at it, I might go see Carbo for a while" Ben says also looking in their direction

"What's scary, is they throwed a better party then we ever did" Ben says as he punchs the punching bag with Carbo on the other side of it as he has a hotdog in his hand

"Scarier then turning into your parents" Carbo says looking around at him "We were wondering what the music was about last night, knew it wasn't you and Emily"

"Hey we still know how to party" Ben says trying not to be offended by Carbo's comment "maybe next time we should just join them"

"If you were 18, would you want your 40 some year old brother and his best mate showing up to your party" Ben says trying to catch his breath as he looks at Carbo

"I don't know, what are the rules on that, is it cool when your the brother" Carbo says before seeing Ben give him a look "Well maybe not after last night"

"Just imagine, if this is how Ruby and the girls are, what does that mean our kid's are going to be like" Ben says as he starts to hit the punching bag again

"You know what, maybe we should show them how to really throw a party, and Ruby is 18 now so she can share in the hangovers"  
Carbo says looking at Ben "Convince your parents to watch the kids"

"Your serious" Ben says as he looks at Carbo with a stunned look on his face

"Yea i'm serious, show them that we're not just boring old parents, invite everyone else too" Carbo says smiling back at him


	9. Chapter 9

"I can't believe that teacher" Lola says as her and Ruby walk back into the house after their classes

"What happened?" Bella says as she's standing in the kitchen as the girls walk in joining her

"Psycho teacher" Lola says as she grabs a glass as she pulls the water out of the refrigerator

"She's not that bad" Ruby says as she sits down joining Bella at the teacher as Lola gives her a look

"Teachers pet" Lola says as she joins them at the table "But hey we made it through the first week, and now we get to celebrate"

"What are you suggesting?" Bella says giving her a suspicious look as there is a knock at the door as Ruby gets up to answer it

"I don't know, thought maybe we can hit up a club or something" Lola says as she gets up finishing her drink

"Look who's here" Ruby says as she walks into the kitchen followed by Ben

"Oh look kiss up has her backup" Lola says as Ruby gives her a look as Bella walks up behind Lola making a kissing face

"Hey what's going on you were on my side a minute ago" Ruby says giving a look to Bella

"Yea I was till she told me what teacher she was referring too" Bella says looking at Ruby "Mrs. Trexler, shes a nightmare"

"What's all this" Ben says as he's still standing behind Ruby, joining her in giving Bella and Lola a look

"You guys can never deny being related you both have the same faces" Bella says as she walks past them

"They're giving me grief because I want to give our teacher a chance" Ruby says as she turns around to Ben

"So we're thinking about going to the club tonight" Lola says walking around the kitchen counter as she looks at Ruby

"Yea that sounds good to me" Ruby says walking over to the refridgerator "Maybe we could order pizza before we head out"

"Or" Ben says as he walks over closer to the girls "Or I have another proposal, we're thinking about throwing a party tonight"

"Oh yea celebrating with the oldies" Lola says as she walks back past them

"First off we're not oldies, and we can throw a pretty good party" Ben says as he looks at her

"Yea we'll be there" Ruby says as she looks at Ben "See what you got bro" she says smiling at him "maybe we can go to the club tommorw night" she says looking at Lola

"Oh we have some interesting stories from clubbing too" Ben says smiling at Ruby as he turns to leave "I'll see y'all tonight"

Later the evening Dave comes into his and Julies bedroom as Julie sits on the bed reading Mia a book "So just as we get an empty house" Dave begins as he slides over closer to the girls

"Hey, I don't mind watching these" she says as she puts her hands over Mia's ears as her granddaughter looks up in her direction "We can send these back to their parents"

"Well you didn't just finish getting the other ones down" Dave says as he picks up a magazine off the nightstand as he starts to flip through it "Apperently we can't send them back to their parents tonight, wild party going on from what I hear" he says smiling at Julie

"So closet sex huh" Ruby says as she walks into the kitchen where Ben and Nathan are standing in the kitchen as she grabs a plate to take back outside

"Ben!" Nathan says as he gives his brother an unbelievable look as he looks back at Ruby who has a grin on her face

"She asked about our clubbing days and it's the first thing that came to mind" Ben says looking at Nathan trying to defend himself

"Besides I wouldn't say much about me, I don't think i'll ever have the lung capacity to kiss as long as you and Ethan do" Nathan says looking back at Ruby

"Yea but I've never had closet sex" Ruby says still giving a suspicious grin as she walks back into the backyard

"Okay so we have this all set up" Jake says as him and Coby are standing by the laundry line in the backyard

"Got what all set?" Ruby says looking curiously as her and Lola walk over to them

"Beer-a-fourtune" Jake says with a smile on his face as he turns around to Ruby

"What's that?" Ruby says as the rest of her siblings walk up from behind her

"Oh your going to find out little sis" Rachel says as she wraps her arm around Ruby's shoulder

"Yea Ben's basically an expert at this game" Nathan says glancing around at Ben and Emily behind him

"Okay, that was one time and I learned my lesson, that's not going to happen again" Ben says with a confident look on his face

A while later the siblings and Emily are trying to get Ben into the living room as they have him thrown over their shoulders "okay come on benny" Ruby says as they help Ben lay down on the couch

"I'm fine, I'm okay" Ben says clearly drunk as he falls back onto the couch as he lifts his head up "maybe not"  
he says getting back up as he starts up the stairs towards the bathroom

"So is this what happened last time?" Emily says looking at the rest standing in the living room

"Yea pretty much sums it up, so much for learning his lesson" Rachel says as she looks at her


	10. Chapter 10

The next morning Nathan, Rachel and Ruby are standing over the couch where Ben is laying down on the couch

"Is he dead?" Ruby says as she looks at Nathan and Rachel continuing to look down

"He's going to feel like he is" Nathan says as he grins at them

"Shall we have a little fun with this" Rachel says forming a grin as Ruby grins at both of them

"I think it's our duty as his siblings" Ruby says looking at Ben before back to them

"And that gives us the right to be as mean as we want" Nathan says also looking down at Ben

"It's the right thing to do" Rachel says nodding in agreement as the leap over the couch right on top of Ben

"Good Morning!" Ruby says into Ben's ear as he winces letting out a moan

"And how are we feeling this morning?" Rachel says as she comes up behind Ruby

"Go away" Ben says still with his face into the couch "I'm never going to drink again"

"Yea I've heard that one before" Nathan says readjusting himself as they continue to jump up and down on top of him

"If you make me sick" Ben says continuing "I know exactly where to aim" he finishs as Julie comes inside the house as the three of them turn around to look

"Morning all" Julie says as she walks over observing the scene "I'll go make some coffee" she says before walking toward the kitchen

"Okay I think our job is done here" Ruby says as she looks back at Rachel and Nathan

"I knew it was your idea" Ben says as he turns his head to the side

"No this time it really wasn't" Ruby says looking at Rachel "This time it was Rachel's idea"

"Honest mistake" Ben says continuing to lay down "Usually you are the ring leader, remember the good ole days when it was just the three of us"

"Yea but I learned from the best" Ruby says grinning at him "They don't call me your mini me for nothing"

"Let's go play with the kids" Nathan says as they jump off the couch running through the kitchen and out the backdoor

A couple nights later Ruby is sitting in the middle of the couch rolling her eyes as Lola and Bella continue arguing back and forth

"Well that's what I've been trying to tell you" Bella says as she yells at Lola

"No was not" Lola says as she gives a look back at her "Because if you had I would have remembered"

"That does it" Ruby yells out as she looks at them as she jumps off the couch grabbing her purse as she heads toward the door

"Where are you going?" Lola says as she turns around to look at her as Ruby gets ready to open the door

"It's after 10:30" Bella says turning around also looking at Ruby "And you in your night clothes"

"I am tired of hearing the two of you go on, so figure it out" Ruby says as she opens the door "till you do I'll be next door" she says slamming the door close as Bella and Lola look at each other before jumping back into the arguement

Ruby uses her spare key as she opens the door to Ben and Emily's as she slips into the darkened hallway closing the door quietly as not to wake up her nieces and nephew before tapping on the door of Emily and Ben's room "Ben,  
Emily" she says cracking open the door "Are you awake?" she says noticing the TV is on as she see's Emily sitting cross legged on the bed glued to the screen with a bowl of popcorn in front of her "Emily" she says a little louder as Emily jumps before looking at her

"Hey Rubs" Emily says as she looks at her wide eyed as she flips back towards the TV as Ruby climbs onto the bed beside her "I didn't hear you come in"

"Yeah I used my spare key I figured everyone would be asleep" Ruby says grabbing a fist full of popcorn "I didn't mean to scare you" she says eating some of the popcorn "What are you doing anyway, where's Ben at?"

"He said he would close up the bar tonight" Emily says looking at her "So he probably won't be home till 1:30 or 2 but I decided to have a little horror movie night" she says holding up a couple movies "I still have razorback to go if you want to hangout"

"Oh I've never seen that one" Ruby says as she looks at the dvd "And actually I was going to see if I could stay over here tonight anyway"

"Lola and Bella still arguing" Emily says looking at her as Ruby nods her head up and down "Of course you can" she says smiling at her

"But I really do want to watch razorback" Ruby says leaning in to grab another fist full of popcorn

"Okay but in the meantime go make your own bowl of popcorn" Emily says pulling the bowl away from her "Mini Ben"

Later that night Ruby and Emily are half asleep to the movie as they are now layed out across the bed as they hear some noise coming from the kitchen as the leap out of the bed

"What was that?" Emily says as she presses her ear against the door as Ruby comes up behind her

"I don't know but you should check it out" Ruby says as Emily gives her a look back

"Why is it that I'm going first" Emily says looking back at her as Ruby continues to look at her

"Because it's your house" Ruby says as Emily opens the door as they step out into the hall as Ruby grabs a bat from behind the bedroom door "I got your back" she says as Emily turns around looking at her before continuing to sneak into the kitchen as they flip on the light as Ben whirls around as he see's Emily in a defensive pose as Ruby is holding the bat over her head

"What's wrong with you two?" Ben says trying to catch his breath from where he was startled "Are you trying to give me a heart attack"

"We thought someone was trying to break in" Ruby says as she lowers the bat as they both look at him "And Emily got scared"  
she says continuing as Emily flips around shaking her head at her

"What happened to your eye?" Emily says walking up touching a growing black eye as Ben winces

"Yea looks like someone got you good" Ruby says as she sits down on a bar stool

"Rowdy crowd at the bar tonight" Ben says as Emily continues to look at his eye "Bar fight broke out, my bartender dunked and a got a hit right to the face" he says continuing "Came in here to get some asprin and get something to eat before going to sleep"

"Sit down" Emily says as Ben walks over sitting down on the bar stool beside Ruby "I'll fix you something to eat" she says reaching in the freezer grabbing some frozen peas out handing it to him "And put these on your eye"

"I'll get you something for the pain" Ruby says as she gets up reaching into the cabinet getting a pill bottle out handing it to Ben

"What are you doing here anyway?" Ben says as he takes a couple asprin before handing the bottle back to Ruby as she hands him a glass of water

"Housemate's still" Ruby says looking for him before walking back over sitting down as Emily's hands them both a sandwich taking a bite of her own "I couldn't take it anymore, had to get out of there"

"How did the arguement even start" Ben says looking at her as he takes another bite of his sandwich reaching for some chips that Emily has bought over

"I don't even know anymore" Ruby says finishing her food as she finishs her sandwich "But what I do know is I get the nice bed in the spare bedroom tonight" she says getting off the school as she gives Ben a kiss on the cheek before getting off the bar stool "good night" she says heading toward the hallway

"Nite" Ben says as him and Emily look at her as she closes the bedroom door "I'm shattered too" Ben says getting off the stool putting the dishes in the sink as he turns back to Emily as he puts his arm around her shoulder

"Let's get you into bed" Emily says as they turn off the kitchen light walking towards the bedroom "Maybe I'll even give you a massage"

The next morning Ruby is on the floor of the nusery surrunded by her nieces and nephew making faces at them as they look at her as Ben and Emily step into the doorway as Ruby turns to smile at them "morning" she says continuing "Just entertaining the troops,  
figured you could use some sleeping in"

"Do you want to stay for breakfast?" Emily says grinning at her and Ben walk into the nursery as they sit on either side of her

"Do you want to stay forever?" Ben says as he looks at her from the other side

"Sure" Ruby says as she looks over at Emily "And it might just come to that" she says turning to look at Ben

"Well you can stay here as long as you need" Emily says as she grabs one of the babies "But right now I think these three need breakfast" she says standing up as Ben and Ruby grab the other two as they stand up following her


End file.
